One Day
by temperanceluvr
Summary: Ariel, Charlotte and Lulu had no idea what was waiting for them when they went to visit their mother in the hospital that day. Now they must fight to protect each other from the Kraang who want to kidnap them. They learn to trust the turtles and hope that maybe this entire ordeal can somehow bring them closer together. Will they uncover the secret to changing their destiny?
1. Chapter 1: Enemy of My Enemy

"So you'll be home late tonight? Okay. No, I understand. I'll put a plate in the fridge for you. Yes, sir. Bye."

 _*CLICK*_

Ariel Sawyer put the phone back on the receiver. She hated whenever _he_ called to say he would be home late. He was a coward.

"Was that him?" Ariel's younger sister Charlotte asked walking into the kitchen. As soon as she saw her sister's face she knew the answer. She sighed. "He's gonna be late again, isn't he?"

"He's being a selfish asshole!" she said angrily, clenching her hands into fists. "It's like we don't even matter to him!"

Charlotte looked away. She always got uncomfortable whenever this subject came up. She didn't like talking about it, and Ariel's short temper never helped.

"I mean, I swear, ever since mom—" Ariel stopped herself short, noticing how upset her sister was getting. "Sorry, I know you don't like to talk about it."

Neither of the girls spoke for a while after that. Ariel began to cook dinner and Charlotte started setting the table.

"Ariel, have you seen Mr. Turtle?" Charlotte and Ariel's younger sister Lulu asked as she bounced into the kitchen.

"Lulu, how many times do I have to tell you to keep track of your things?" Ariel told her sternly while she put dinner on the table. "Dinner's ready, so go wash your hands."

Lulu folded her arms and pouted. "But Lulu's gotta find Mr. Turtle!" she said childishly, referring to herself in the third person as she always did. "Lulu wants Mr. Turtle!"

"I think I saw Mr. Turtle on the sofa in the living room." Charlotte told her little sister.

"Thanks Lottie!" Lulu said before dashing off towards the living room to retrieve her stuffed animal.

"I swear, all Lulu ever thinks about is turtles." Ariel laughed as she and Charlotte sat at the table and waited for their sister to return.

Charlotte looked sadly over at her older sister. "Do you think things will ever go back to the way they used to be?" she asked, her voice reflecting the uncertainty in her blue eyes. "Y'know… _**before**_ mom got sick?"

Ariel wanted to look away, but she forced herself to smile warmly at her younger sister. She put her hand over Charlotte's. "I don't know, Char. We just have to do what we can and hope for the best." She gave Charlotte's hand a reassuring squeeze. "I talked with mom's doctor today and he says she's getting better."

Charlotte smiled at the good news just as Lulu bounded into the kitchen, Mr. Turtle held securely in her arms. Lulu walked over to the two empty chairs beside Charlotte and sat Mr. Turtle in one of them before plopping herself in the chair next to her sister.

The sisters sat through dinner without saying a word. Typical family dinner. Except for two crucial members of the family.

As soon as they finished dinner, Charlotte began clearing the table. Lulu bounced upstairs to take her bath, Mr. Turtle in her arms. Normally Ariel would have helped Charlotte clean up, but tonight there was something she had to do. Alone.

Ariel walked outside of the beautiful three-story townhouse she and her sisters called home and began walking down the street. She went to a park that was only a few blocks away and saw the person she needed to meet with. It was a guy she knew from the neighborhood who helped her deal with her family situation.

"I didn't expect to see you here tonight." The guy said as Ariel walked over to him. He pulled out the cigarette he was smoking and smiled at her. "Guess it's gotten worse?"

Ariel sighed angrily. "Got that right. Bastard hasn't even come near the house in two weeks. He calls to say he's going to be late but never shows up." She sat on the bench he was standing next to and he handed her a joint. "Where's Heather?"

The guy put his cigarette back in his mouth and shrugged. "No idea, she texted me saying she was gonna be here. She might be with that kid brother of hers."

Ariel smoked her joint and waited for their friend to show up. After about five minutes, two people on a motorcycle rolled into the park.

"Sorry I'm late guys, Casey here thought it would be funny to throw eggs at some punks and almost got his ass handed to him." Heather said rushing over to her friends. "Anyway, thanks to _**me**_ his ass is fine, but I had to bring him along tonight."

"I could've taken those punks on my own, sis." Casey said sourly as he sat on a swing in front of the group. "Casey Jones isn't afraid of _anything_!"

Ariel laughed. "You still think you're invincible, don't you?"

Heather rolled her eyes and took a joint from her friend before sitting down beside Ariel. "So Drake, how's it feel being nineteen and finally having your own apartment?"

Drake simply shrugged. "Not bad, kinda quiet." He tossed his cigarette on the ground and stomped it out. "Can't complain, seeing as I got a decent job and friends like you guys."

This was exactly what Ariel had needed. To be around her friends. No responsibility. No pressure to be someone she wasn't. No stress. Just hanging out with the friends she'd known for years. Friends who knew how screwed up her life was and just let her be herself.

Drake, Heather and Ariel used to go to school together up until last year. Drake graduated and moved out of his foster home into his own apartment. Heather stayed in school but hardly showed up anymore. Ariel kept getting into fights with guys at school so the school told her to either clean up her act or they would expel her. Ariel never went back to school after that.

Casey was pretty cool to hang out with, even if he was Heather's annoying little brother. He and Ariel were about the same age, so they got along pretty well. The two didn't talk much, but whenever they did they had a good time.

After an hour or so, Heather and Casey left. Not long after Ariel knew she should start heading back home herself. It was well past midnight and she knew her sisters would start to get worried if she didn't show up soon.

"I'll walk you back," Drake said as the two left the park. "How's your mom doing? Getting any better?"

Ariel sighed. "Not sure, the doctor says she's improving, but they _always_ say that… right before it gets worse."

Drake patted Ariel's shoulder. "It'll be alright little mermaid, I'm sure she'll be back home in no time."

Ariel grumbled at the use of her old childhood nickname. "Would you stop calling me 'little mermaid' already? We're not in grade school anymore."

Drake chuckled and messed up Ariel's hair. "It suits you though, little miss perfect." As they came up to Ariel's home, Drake knew something was still weighing heavily on Ariel's mind. "You know you can tell me or Heather anything, Ariel. We know how you bottle stuff up until you explode and we're here for you. Don't forget you can always come to me if you need help with anything. And I mean _anything_ , alright?"

"I know Drake," Ariel said as she quickly attempted to fix her hair. "You both are the most amazing best friends I could've ever hoped for." he kissed her forehead before walking back down the street towards his apartment.

Ariel took a deep breath before she walked into her house. She knew that Lulu would be in bed already, she _always_ went to bed early and woke up late. It would just be her and Charlotte. The way it always was whenever Ariel had to take a break and hang with her friends.

"Ah, that must be you Ariel, welcome home!" Charlotte called over her shoulder, after briefly looking up from the magazine she was reading. "Good night, then?" She swung her legs down off the sofa she was stretched out on and sat up, looking at the doorway.

Ariel collapsed in one of the cushy chairs in the living room, "Not like it matters." She sighed with irritation. "At least I know my friends are there for me when I need them. Not like our sorry excuse for a step-father."

She pulled out a bottle of pills and popped a few in her mouth before stuffing the bottle back into her pocket.

Charlotte looked a little taken aback at her sister's words. "Surely he's not all bad, though?" She watched as Ariel took the pills. "You know he's had a lot on his plate and so have we. He just... hasn't known how to deal with it all."

Ariel could not believe her sister was so naive. "Face it Char, ever since mom got sick he could care less about us. Hell, he hasn't even come home for two whole weeks!" she shouted, not bothering to hide her anger. "He's abandoned us, plain and simple. We are on our own now. He's nothing but a glorified meal ticket as far as I'm concerned."

"That's NOT true! He'll be back, he'd never just abandon us out of the blue like that!" Charlotte shouted back at Ariel, not wanting to have to consider that what she was saying could have some truth in it. "Mom getting sick has affected us all and we have our own ways of getting through it."

"If he really cared about us how come he's never there for us when we need him?" Ariel jumped to her feet, her bottle of pills slipping out of her pocket and falling to the floor. "He doesn't even bother to visit mom in the hospital for god's sake! Not even once! Oh, and let's not forget when Lulu got sick with pneumonia last month, he was nowhere to be found! He doesn't care that I was practically expelled from school or that I've been doing drugs with my friends to cope with this whole mess!"

Ariel was fuming now, her hands clenched in tight fists as she tried to control her rage. Her pills had made her pain go away but that only made it easier for her to feel all the anger and hate she had towards her step-father.

"Ariel, you've _got_ to calm down!" Charlotte stood up to face her enraged sister. Ariel's painful emotions now more obvious than ever. "Did you ever stop to consider that it might, just _**MIGHT**_ be too painful for him to visit mom?" she paused for a second, trying to keep her own feelings contained. "Maybe you've been so wrapped up in how _**YOU'RE**_ feeling, you haven't taken a second to stop and think about what anyone else is going through right now!"

Ariel's eyes burned with anger as she turned and headed upstairs to her room. She slammed her door and Charlotte sunk back onto the couch, her heart full of conflicting emotions.

"Lottie?"

Charlotte jumped at the sudden appearance of her younger sister in the room. "Oh Lulu, you scared me. I thought you went to bed already?"

Lulu hugged her stuffed turtle tighter as she shook her head. "Lulu couldn't sleep because she feels like something bad is going to happen." That's when Charlotte noticed that Lulu was shaking.

"Come here sweetie," Charlotte opened her arms and wrapped them lovingly around her little sister. "Sorry we were fighting, Ariel and I have just been having trouble dealing with our emotions lately."

"That wasn't the something bad Lulu feels is gonna happen." Lulu looked up at Charlotte, tears glistening in the corner of her eyes. "Lulu feels like something bad is gonna happen to mommy. Or maybe it's near where mommy is. Lulu isn't sure."

"Well we're going to see mom tomorrow, so don't worry." Charlotte reassured her as she brushed back some of Lulu's stray hair. "Nothing's gonna happen, mom is safe in the hospital. The doctors are taking good care of her."

"Lulu knows that, but Lulu still feels like something's going to happen. Lulu's scared something might happen to mommy. What if someone takes mommy away? Lulu doesn't want mommy to go away!"

"Calm down Lulu, nothing is gonna happen to mom. C'mon let's go to bed so we can be on time to see mom tomorrow. You don't want to be late to see mom now, do you?"

"Lulu won't be late tomorrow, Lulu's never late to see mommy."

The next morning the sisters ate breakfast and talked about their plans for the day as if the events of last night never happened. When they were heading out to go to the hospital, Charlotte noticed Ariel popping a few more of her pills into her mouth.

"What exactly are those pills you keep taking?" Charlotte finally managed to ask her sister as the taxi pulled up to the hospital. "Those aren't mom's old pain killers are they?"

"It's nothing Char, they're just small pain relievers. Nothing strong. I promise." Ariel told her as she paid the fare and they got out of the cab. "C'mon, mom's waiting for us."

"Lulu brought mommy a picture she did in art class this week. Do you think mommy will like Lulu's drawing?" Lulu asked her sisters.

"I'm sure mom will love it Lulu," Charlotte smiled as she and her sisters headed into the hospital lobby.

As they walked down the hall to the front desk, Ariel suddenly started to feel uneasy. She looked around but didn't see anything too unusual. There was a man standing near the nurse's station with a blank expression on his face. He seemed to be staring at Ariel and her sisters. His gaze gave Ariel the sudden urge to throw up.

"I've gotta go to the bathroom, tell mom I'll be right there." Ariel said as she raced off to the bathroom.

Charlotte began to get concerned about Ariel. She knew Ariel was lying about the pills. She saw the label on the bottle last night when she picked it up off the floor. They weren't regular pain relievers. What the hell was Ariel thinking?

"May I help you ladies?" a nurse asked as Charlotte and Lulu walked past the nurse's station. "Oh, hey there girls. You here to see your mother?"

"Hey Chloe, yes, we're running a little late today." Charlotte told the nurse.

"Don't you worry, I'm sure your mother will understand. Let me just check to make sure she knows you're here. I think she is still in with the doctor."

"Thank you Chloe, we appreciate it." Charlotte said as Chloe went to go find their mother.

Charlotte felt the hair on the back of her neck stand up and she felt like she was being watched. She glanced around but didn't notice anyone staring at her. That's when she noticed the man standing next to her at the nurse's station. His face was expressionless and his cold black eyes were staring right at Charlotte.

A cold shiver ran down Charlotte's spine, as if someone had just poured a bucket of ice water over her. Her grip on her younger sister's hand tighten.

"Lottie?" Lulu asked, but Charlotte didn't seem to hear her. "Charlotte? You're hurting Lulu's hand."

Charlotte blinked and quickly released her sister's hand. "I'm sorry Lulu, I didn't mean to. I guess I'm just a little nervous."

Lulu blinked at her sister in confusion. They always go to see their mother on Saturdays. What was there to be nervous about?

Chloe returned. "I'm sorry, it looks like Dr. Mahoney was running late today and your mom just went in to see him."

"O-Oh? Th-That's okay, we'll wait." Charlotte's heart began racing when Ariel hadn't returned yet. Something wasn't right. The man standing beside Charlotte hadn't moved at all in the past five minutes. Not a single muscle. Not even to blink! Charlotte took a deep breath and took back her sister's hand. "Actually, I think we'll just come back later. Tell mother we'll come by for dinner."

"Are you sure?" the nurse asked surprised. "Okay then, if that's what you wanna do. I'll tell her."

"Thanks Chloe, c'mon Lulu, we've gotta go."

"Lulu hasn't seen mommy yet Lottie! Lulu wants to see mommy!" Lulu whined as Charlotte dragged her down the hall. Lulu fighting Charlotte every step of the way.

Charlotte stopped and grabbed Lulu's shoulders, staring into her red eyes with a serious and stern expression in her blue ones. Lulu suddenly began to feel scared.

"Listen to me, Lulu, I have a very bad feeling. We need to find Ariel and get out of here, now. I know you wanted to show mom your picture but it's gonna have to wait, okay? We need to go." Charlotte's voice was rough as she tried to force herself to stay calm and not frighten her younger sister any more than she already had.

Lulu simply nodded in response to her sister. Too afraid to speak. Charlotte looked up and saw the man from the nurse's station walking towards them.

"Let's go." Charlotte and Lulu quickly walked back down the hall, each step making Charlotte's heart beat faster and faster. Where was Ariel?

"LET GO OF ME!"

Right in front of the hospital entrance Charlotte and Lulu saw Ariel struggling against two men pulling her into a white van. Both men looked identical to the man following Charlotte and Lulu.

"Ariel!" Charlotte shouted as she and Lulu ran outside.

"Dammit, get out of here Char! You and Lulu need to run! Go!" Ariel shouted back at her sisters as the men pulled her into the van and a third slammed the doors shut.

"ARIEL!" Lulu and Charlotte shouted in unison.

Charlotte and Lulu turned to run but were surrounded by more of the look-alike men. At least five of them were standing around them. There was no escape.

"Lottie… Lulu's scared…" Lulu clung to her sister's arm, shaking with fear.

Charlotte gave her sister's hand a reassuring squeeze. "It's okay Lulu… it's okay… we can figure this out…"

"Kraang wishes for you to come with Kraang." One of the men said in a robotic voice.

"I don't know who Kraang is or who you creeps are, but we're not going anywhere!" Charlotte shouted.

Suddenly, there was a bright light and the van doors shot off their hinges, crashing into the wall of the hospital. Ariel was surrounded by a bright aura and two piles of what seemed to be robot parts. She leapt out of the van and knocked out two of the men around her sisters.

"Get away from my sisters!" she shouted as she went for the others.

"Ariel, what are you doing!?" Charlotte screamed as her sister fought.

"Grab Lulu and get out of here! I'll hold them off!"

"No! We won't leave you!"

"Go now Char!"

"Ariel—"

"NOW!"

Charlotte took a step back. She turned to grab Lulu when she realized that Lulu was nowhere to be seen.

"CHARLOTTE! ARIEL!"

Both girls turned at the sound of their sister's screams. Three of the men were dragging a struggling Lulu towards the white van. One of them had pulled out a gun and began shooting at the two sisters.

"No… Lulu!" Ariel dropped the man she was attacking and her aura began to grow brighter.

Charlotte stood there, frozen in fear. Her feet rooted to the spot. Tears rolling down her cheeks. Suddenly there was a flash of green and the robot shooting at them fell to the ground. The aura around Ariel began to fade until it disappeared completely. Charlotte rushed over as Ariel collapsed. The sound of tires screeching made Charlotte turn to see her baby sister being driven off.

"Man, that was easy, they didn't put up much of a fight."

Charlotte blinked and quickly wiped her tears away. She looked to see who just spoke. She opened her mouth to scream but no sound came from her throat. Standing before her were four giant mutant turtles with weapons in their hands.

"I wonder what were they doing here anyway." One of them said before realizing that Charlotte was staring at them. "Uh-oh…"

"It was your fault…" Ariel mumbled as she began to stand up. She didn't seem to be afraid of these mutants and the bright aura began to return around her. A small wind blew through the street and circled around Ariel as the aura grew brighter. She glared up at the four mutants. "Lulu's gone because you interfered!"

"That's impossible…" the tallest one of them said as the wind picked up around Ariel.

"It's your fault our baby sister was kidnapped!" Ariel shouted, tears streaming down her face. "Bring her back! Bring her back right now!"

"Hey—that wasn't our fault!" the shortest one shouted at her.

"Raph, that's not helping!" the one with a blue cloth on his face said. He walked over to Ariel, who took a step back and he stopped. "Listen, we're sorry about your sister, but we can get her back."

"Leo!" two of the mutants snapped at him.

"Look, it's our fault because we didn't know what the Kraang were doing, it's the least we can do for them." The one named Leo told them.

The wind began to die down and the aura around Ariel began to fade once more.

"You'll… bring her back?" she asked as Charlotte took a step forward. "I don't trust you. She's _**our**_ baby sister… we can get her back ourselves."

"Ariel," Charlotte put her hand on her sister's shoulder. "I don't think they mean us any harm… they didn't attack us before, they attacked the ones who kidnapped Lulu. Remember that old saying, 'the enemy of my enemy is my friend'? I think we can trust them."

Ariel looked up at the four mutant turtles. She knew her sister had a point, but deep down inside Ariel couldn't help but feel suspicious of these strange mutants. She looked back at Charlotte and gave a heavy sigh.

"Alright, fine, you can help us get our sister back, but that's it. Once we find her you better stay out of our way."


	2. Chapter 2: A Question of Trust

"C'mon, I bet we can still catch them." The taller turtle with the purple cloth mask said as they lead the girls to their vehicle. It seemed to be made out of an old train car.

As they piled into the vehicle, Ariel kept a firm grip on Charlotte's hand. Something about these turtles just didn't seem right to her and she wanted to make sure nothing happened to Charlotte if they couldn't be trusted.

"You can relax, if we wanted to hurt you, we'd have done it by now." The one named Raph said to Ariel. Ariel ignored him. "Y'know, a simple thank you would be nice."

Charlotte felt Ariel's grip tighten. She knew this wouldn't end well.

Ariel laughed. "Thank you? _**THANK you?!**_ For what? Getting in the way and allowing our little sister to be kidnapped by those creepy look-alikes?! You honestly expect us to _**thank**_ _**you**_ after that?!"

"Ariel, calm down!" Charlotte pleaded with her sister, holding her back from Raph. "They're our only chance right now of finding out where those things took Lulu!"

Ariel clenched her hands into fists and forced herself to calm down. Charlotte was right. If they were going to have any chance of finding their sister, they had to at least trust these mutants to help find her.

"Um… so, uh, what are your names?" Charlotte asked, trying to be friendly to the turtles, even though she herself was very scared.

"I'm Leonardo and mister nice guy over here is Raphael." Leo said.

"My name is Donatello and this is Michelangelo." The one with the purple mask said. "Hey-I think I see them up ahead!"

"I'm on it!" Leo said as he stepped on the gas and they sped down the street.

The sudden jolt of the van knocked the girls off their feet and they fell against Mikey and Raph. Ariel had landed on Mikey while Charlotte had landed in Raph's lap. Ariel tried to get back on her feet but she and Mikey had somehow gotten stuck and neither could move. Charlotte yelped when she realized she was in Raph's lap and she quickly got to her feet.

"Ugh! Get off me!" Ariel shouted as she struggled to get up. "Let me go you—you—!"

"Me!? I'm not doing anything! You fell on me!" Mikey shouted back.

"The van is up ahead!" Donnie shouted. "Let's go guys, we can catch 'em!"

They sped up and drove past the van, swerving in front of it causing it to stop. Charlotte helped Ariel get up and they ran out of the turtle's van.

"Let Lulu go you bastards!" Ariel shouted, an aura forming around her.

"Ariel, you're going to lose control again! Let me handle this." Charlotte said as an aura formed around her and the one around Ariel faded away. Charlotte closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She raised her hands and the van was lifted off the ground.

"How is that possible?!" Donnie exclaimed in surprise as Charlotte turned the van around and they saw Lulu in the back.

"Ariel! Charlotte!" Lulu cried as Charlotte used her power to pull Lulu out of the van and put her down next to Ariel.

"Lulu! Thank god you're not hurt!" Ariel said as she hugged her younger sister.

Charlotte hit the men with the van and threw them into a nearby building. The aura around her faded away and Lulu ran over to hug her.

"Lottie! Lulu is happy you saved her!" Lulu said with tears in her eyes. "Lulu was so scared but Lulu knew Ariel and Lottie would come save her."

"Let's get out of here," Ariel lifted Lulu onto her back and she and Charlotte ran off.

"You're welcome!" Raph yelled bitterly after them. "Talk about rude, I mean they didn't even thank us once for helping them."

"Let it go Raph, we've got bigger problems." Leo said as the robots lifted up the van and started walking towards the turtles.

"Man what is the Kraang's deal?" Mikey exclaimed as the turtles prepared to fight.

The Kraang stopped. "The ones which Kraang is searching for are no longer in the place that is known as here."

"Kraang must find them before Kraang finds out that Kraang lost them."

"The tracking device will tell Kraang where the ones that Kraang are after are located."

The Kraang pulled out a small box with a screen and then turned and headed in the direction the girls took.

"They must be after those girls!" Donnie exclaimed. "What could they possibly want with them?"

"We'll have to find out the details later, right now we've gotta stop them." Leo said as they piled back into the van. "We've gotta get to those girls before the Kraang do."

Ariel and Charlotte ran into an abandoned building and slammed the door shut. Lulu jumped off Ariel's back and held on tightly to Charlotte's hand.

"We should be safe for now," Ariel sighed as she caught her breath. She was breathing heavily as she leaned against the door. "Who the hell are those creeps? And what do they want with us?"

"Who were you guys with when you came to rescue Lulu?" Lulu asked her sisters. "Lulu heard voices but didn't see who was there."

"Not now Lulu, we've gotta think of a plan." Ariel said quickly, not hearing Lulu's question. "We've gotta figure out how we're gonna get back home without those guys finding us."

Charlotte hesitated. "Y'know… maybe—"

"Don't even! You really think those… those _**creatures**_ can be trusted?!" Ariel exclaimed. "How do we know they're not working with those robot guys trying to kidnap us!?"

"But they helped us rescue Lulu! That means they're not trying to kidnap us!" Charlotte insisted, but Ariel wouldn't have it.

"Just because they helped us rescue Lulu from those robots doesn't mean that they are the good guys here, Char! Don't be so naïve! Hell, they probably want us for the same reason those robots do!"

"Which is what, Ariel?!"

"I don't know!"

"Admit it, you don't like accepting help from them because that would mean admitting you can't handle this on your own!"

"That's not even close! I don't trust them because they're freaks!"

"They helped us get Lulu back!"

"That doesn't prove anything!"

"STOP IT!"

There was a crash behind them as the turtle's van broke through the wall of the old brick building. The van skidded to a halt in front of the girls and Donnie jumped out.

"Shit, not _**them**_ again!" Ariel grumbled in anger as she stood protectively in front of her younger sisters. "I knew they couldn't be trusted, see Charlotte?! They came after us too!"

"No, no, no, listen, for some reason the Kraang are after you and it seems they have some sort of tracking device on you. We can help, but you have to trust us." Donnie said quickly, knowing that the Kraang couldn't be too far behind.

"Ha! Like hell I'm gonna trust a six foot mutant turtle!" Ariel scoffed. She realized that Lulu was now standing in front of her, eyes big and wide. "Uh-oh… god dammit! This is not going to end well…" she slapped her face with her hand, grumbling at what she knew was coming next.

"Lulu, don't! This isn't the time for your turtle obsession!" Charlotte said quickly grabbing her sister's shoulders, shaking her back to reality. "Ariel, right now we don't have many options, it seems like they have a plan, why don't we just see if it helps get us out of here?"

Ariel growled angrily, but knew this wasn't the time to argue. "Fine, but you better not try anything or I will kick all your asses." She said to the turtles as they got into their van.

"So where to?" Donnie asked as the turtles all took their positions.

"Just take us back to the hospital, we can get home from there ourselves." Ariel said.

"Going back there wouldn't be a good idea," Leo pointed out as they drove down the street. "The Kraang obviously knew where you were and will probably be waiting for you."

"Didn't they mention they had a tracking device?" Raph asked as he looked over at Donnie. Raph's eyes wandered, however, to the necklace Ariel was wearing. It was a large pendant on a silver chain. Inside the pendant was something that looked all too familiar to Raphael.

Donnie noticed Raphael staring at Ariel and he followed his brother's gaze to the necklace. He was just as shocked as his brother at what he saw inside the pendant.

Ariel noticed their looks. "What is your problem? Never seen a girl before?" she asked irritably.

Donnie blushed. "NO! I mean, yes! Our friend April is a girl!"

"Yeah! She's Donnie's girlfriend!" Raph added.

"She's not my girlfriend!" Donnie shouted as his face turned red.

Ariel rolled her golden eyes. "Sure, whatever, just stop staring at my boobs you perverted turtles."

Charlotte was keeping her hands on Lulu's shoulders, hoping to contain Lulu's excitement until they were safe. She could feel her sister's body tremble with enthusiasm.

After a lengthy drive, the van finally came to a stop, but when the girls stepped out, they found they were not outside the hospital. They found themselves standing in an abandoned subway station.

"Where the hell are we? I thought you were taking us back to the hospital!" Ariel snapped angrily.

"Look, the Kraang are after you three for some reason and we need to know why if we are ever gonna help you." Leo explained as they led the girls into their home.

"We didn't ask for your help!" Ariel shouted, her aura slowly appearing around her. "We can take care of ourselves!"

Charlotte took one hand off Lulu's shoulder and put it on Ariel's shoulder. "Ariel, calm down, let's hear them out. It can't hurt, can it? I mean, what if those weird robots do have some sort of tracking device on us? We need to figure out how to get rid of it."

Ariel calmed down, her aura dissipating. Charlotte returned her hand back to Lulu's shoulder and the girls followed the turtles into what appeared to be a makeshift lab of sorts. Donnie took a seat in the chair and his brothers gathered around him as he typed furiously on the computer.

"Alright, it looks like there is a tracking device on that necklace of yours," Donnie said to Ariel, standing up and walking toward her. He held out his hand. "If you let me take a look at it, I can disable it so they can't track you anymore."

 _ **CRASH**_

Donnie had ended up across the room crashing into the wall, a huge dent around where he crashed. Ariel was standing there, her aura glowing brightly around her. She was breathing heavily and her eyes were filled with such rage even Raphael was a little scared of her.

Everything had happened so fast that nobody knew what had happened until after it was all over. The turtles rushed to their brother's aid as Ariel continued to breath heavily, her aura growing stronger.

"Ariel, you've got to calm down!" Charlotte pleaded with her older sister as she tried to grab her arm, but Ariel pushed her aside, knocking her to the floor.

"What the hell is your problem!?" Mikey asked angrily as Ariel approached the turtles.

"We've gotta get Donnie to Splinter." Raph said as he noticed his brother had lost consciousness.

Leo and Raph lifted Donnie up and carried him out of the lab with Mikey right behind them. Ariel followed after them, her steps firm and steady. When they reached the Dojo, Raphael turned and pulled out his sai.

"Alright, that's it, you're going down!" Raph yelled at her. "Nobody hurts my brothers and gets away with it! You're gonna be in so much pain when I'm done with you!"

Ariel simply laughed. Her laugh sent chills down the turtle's spines. "You think I'm scared of you?" she asked, her aura fluctuating around her as she reached Raphael. "You have no idea who you're screwing with. You don't know what _**real**_ pain is!"

Suddenly, Ariel was thrown back from Raphael her aura vanishing. Charlotte and Lulu rushed over to their sister.

"Ariel! Ariel, are you okay?!" Charlotte said as she lifted up her sister. "What's gotten into you?"

"I apologize for the sudden attack, but I could not allow her to hurt my sons." a large rat said as he walked toward the girls.

"Oh, no, it's alright…" Charlotte said softly, her voice quavering. "I don't know what came over her. She's always had a problem with her anger but I've never seen her do anything like this. I apologize for her actions."

" _ **Don't**_ apologize for me Char! I'm _**not**_ sorry for what I did!" Ariel snapped bitterly at her sister. "They started it anyway."

The rat turned to his sons with a demanding look in his eyes.

"Sensei, we didn't do anything!" Raphael insisted. "I swear!"

"It's true Splinter." Leo added. "Donnie just asked to look at her necklace so he could disable the tracking device the Kraang put on it when she attacked him."

Splinter stroked his thin beard thoughtfully. He looked at the necklace around Ariel's neck and quickly saw what had piqued his sons' interest in it.

"That pendant also contains mutagen, sensei!" Raphael blurted out. "We can't just let them keep it, can we?!"

"Mutagen?" Lulu and Charlotte echoed in unison, looking at each other.

"You mutants really _**do**_ want me dead, don't you?" Ariel said darkly.

"I'm starting to," Raphael muttered.

Splinter banged his staff on the ground, making his sons straighten up. "What makes you say that?" he asked Ariel as she and her sisters stood up.

Ariel grasped the pendant in her hand. "You know why… it's so obvious." She turned to her sisters. "Don't you remember when mom first got sick? Lulu was still too young but you remember, right Char?"

Charlotte's eyes widened as if a light had just gone off in her mind. She looked down at her feet.

" _ **That's**_ why I can't just hand over mom's necklace." Ariel said before she turned on her heel and left the dojo.

"What the hell is her damage?" Raphael asked angrily. "Seriously, she is nuts!"

"No… she's scared." Charlotte breathed, her voice soft the turtles barely heard her.

"Scared? Her?! You've gotta be joking!" Raph laughed. Leo nudged him with his elbow.

"Why would she be scared?" Leo asked.

Charlotte hesitated, unsure if she should tell the turtles about the incident ten years ago. Would they even care? Should they know? Was it important that they know? Charlotte wasn't sure what to do. She decided to tell them, but not in detail.

"Our mother gave her that necklace on her sixth birthday." Charlotte explained. "But right after she handed it over to Ariel… she collapsed. She's been in and out of the hospital ever since."

The turtles all fell silent. It was not what any of them were expecting.

"Is that why you were at the hospital earlier?" Mikey asked.

Lulu nodded. "Lulu and her sisters go to see mommy every weekend, sometimes more if they can."

Mikey tilted his head in confusion. He turned to his brothers. "Why is she talking like that?"

Charlotte couldn't help but chuckle. "Don't worry about her, that's just how Lulu talks. She's been this way for a long time, for as long as I can remember anyway, we don't really know why she talks about herself in the third person, but you get used to it after a while."

Charlotte and Lulu went to join their sister in the other room. The old abandoned subway tunnel had been turned into a make-shift home. Ariel wanted to leave but knew that Charlotte would be against it until they knew more about the turtles and whoever was after them.

Lulu ran around the place laughing, eager to explore her new surroundings. As Charlotte sat down beside Ariel on the couch, Ariel opened up her hand revealing a smashed microchip. "I found the tracking thing they mentioned." Ariel said defeated. "I guess you were right about them Char… I'm an idiot."

"You're not an idiot Ariel, you're just stubborn and hot-headed is all." Charlotte replied.

The three turtles made their way back to the makeshift lab and something started nagging at Charlotte as she overheard the turtles' hushed conversation.

"What do you think the deal is with the mom?"

"I don't know… but what could the Kraang possibly want with them? They're just kids!"

"Maybe they're trying to find another way to use the mutagen?"

"I'm curious at how those girls mother got her hands on mutagen. What do you think they're doing with it?"

"What if the Kraang just want to help the girls' mom?"

"Don't be ridiculous Mikey, that's not it!"

"Guys, seriously! We need to figure out what the Kraang want with these girls—" Leo stopped short when he noticed Charlotte standing in the doorway of the lab.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you," Charlotte said shyly, her eyes turning toward the ground, averting the turtles' eyes. "I, um, well…" she took a deep breath. "That necklace is a good luck charm that is supposed to keep Ariel safe."

"Are you for real?!" Raph laughed before Leo whacked the back of his head.

"What do you mean?" Leo asked.

"When our mom gave the necklace to Ariel she told her… she told her that it would protect her and Lulu and I from danger and made her promise to never take it off! She said that if Ariel ever took it off that we'd all be in danger—that's why… that's why…" Charlotte found herself shaking as she told the turtles about this, tears forming in her eyes. She quickly wiped them away, hoping the turtles' hadn't noticed and she looked up at them. "Please don't hate her for doing what she did! She just didn't want anything bad to happen to us!"

"We don't hate her!" Mikey said.

"Yeah, it all makes sense now that you've explained what had happened." Leo added.

Raph remained silent. Something about Charlotte's behavior bothered him. He couldn't tell what it was, but something about her just made him feel like he should keep an eye on her. As she left, he followed her, watching as she went back to join her sister on the couch. What was it about her that bothered him so much?

"OUCH!"

"Raph? What's wrong?" Leo asked looking over at his brother.

Lulu was on the ground behind Raphael, her hand reaching up the bottom of his shell. "Awww… Lulu don't feel it in there…"

"What the hell!?" Raphael exclaimed as he jumped away from Lulu, his face red. "The hell is your problem!?"

Lulu didn't seem to hear him. She suddenly was next to Leo, knocking him to the ground and looking up the bottom of his shell.

"This one doesn't have it either!"

Leo's face turned bright red as he felt Lulu's hand go into his shell. "Hey! Knock that off!"

Ariel and Charlotte came running over and when they saw what Lulu was doing, both turned red in the face.

"LULU! What in god's name are you doing?!" Charlotte exclaimed in disbelief.

Ariel found herself stifling back her laughter as Lulu pushed Mikey to the floor and stuck her face right in between his legs. She fell to the floor, unable to hold back her laughter anymore.

"LULU! STOP THAT RIGHT NOW!" Charlotte shouted, causing Lulu to look up.

"Lottie! These turtles don't have tails!" Lulu exclaimed in shock. "Lulu thought all turtles had tails—is Lulu wrong?"

Charlotte found herself at a loss of words, still reeling from what her little sister had been doing. Ariel continued to roll on the floor, laughing uncontrollably. Charlotte realized that maybe this whole ordeal wouldn't be as bad as she thought. Maybe it'll be good for them somehow. These turtles might be able to help solve the mystery of what is happening to their mother.


	3. Chapter 3: What Has Been Lost

"Leo, we have to go search their place." Raph said in a hushed voice to his brother.

Leo looked over at the sisters, who had fallen asleep on the couch an hour earlier. Who could blame them? They'd been through a lot in the past few hours.

"C'mon man, we gotta figure out why the Kraang are after them! There's gotta be some clue at their house!" Raph insisted. "This is the perfect chance to do it, when they're down here and can't stop us."

"I don't know Raph, maybe we should wait till Donnie wakes up," Leo said, uncertainty in his voice. "We don't even know where they live! Besides, we wouldn't know what we'd be looking for anyway."

"We should still at least try!" Raph pressed, glancing over at the sisters to make sure they were all still asleep. "We can ask April and Casey for help to find their place. Mikey can keep them busy down here if they wake up while we're gone."

Leo sighed in defeat. "Alright, let's go."

The two snuck up to the surface and made their way to April's apartment. It was early evening, the sky turning a dark purple as stars began to become visible. Leo quickly explained the situation to April, hoping she could help them.

"Wait—what?!" April exclaimed, trying to understand what they had just told her. "So the Kraang are after these girls, why?"

"That's what we need to find out." Raph said.

"Will you help us?" Leo asked.

April nodded. "Lemme call Casey, he can help too."

"Alright, but make it quick, I don't know how long those girls will stay asleep." Raph told her.

"Hey Casey, we need your help." April said quickly as she climbed out her window. "I don't have time to explain the whole story but Leo and Raph need our help. The Kraang are after three girls and went after them when they were visiting their mother in the hospital." No response came from her phone. "Casey? Casey you there?"

"I think I know who they are. Meet me on the roof of my building, I'll explain when you get here." Casey said quickly before hanging up.

"I wonder what that was all about." April wondered as she put her phone away.

The trio quickly made their way towards Casey's apartment building. They knew it was only a matter of time before the sisters woke up and realized Leo and Raph had left. When they finally reached Casey's apartment, he was waiting for them on the roof, pacing back and forth.

"Casey, what's the matter? You look worried about something." April said rushing over to him.

"This doesn't make any sense! Why would the Kraang be after _**them**_? Of all people, why them?" Casey said, as if he didn't hear April's question. He turned to her and she could see his eyes were full of fear and confusion. "They've been through so much already, and now this?"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, slow down there Casey." Raph said walking over to his friend. "Calm down and tell us what you're talking about."

"The Sawyers!" Casey shouted suddenly. "I've known them for years and they're a nice family and—and now you're telling me that the Kraang are after them?! Why?!"

"You _**know**_ those girls?" Raph yelled in disbelief. "You know that one of them is a total **nutcase** , right?!"

"Ariel isn't a nutcase! You don't know what she's been through!"

"Guys, we don't have time for this, we gotta go search for clues as to why the Kraang are after those girls." Leo said stepping between Casey and Raph.

Casey and Raph took a step back from each other. "C'mon, their house is this way." Casey said before leading them down the street.

It wasn't long before they reached the Sawyer's townhouse. It looked just like the others on either side, but Leo and Raph knew that inside there had to be some sort of explanation as to why the Kraang were after the three girls.

The inside was quite typical of a home of three teenage girls. Dishes from breakfast sitting in the sink. A small stack of school books on the kitchen table. Shoes scattered in the front hallway. Everything seemed normal.

"Alright, let's split up and see if we can find anything that'll point to why the Kraang want these girls." Leo said.

The others nodded and he headed into the living room. He scanned the room, looking for any hint of a clue, when his eyes stumbled upon a broken picture frame on the floor. He picked it up and saw that it was a family photo. The girls were very young, but they looked happy sitting there with their mother and father. Leo placed the picture on the coffee table and continued to search the room for clues.

 _ **click**_

"Mommy, Lulu wanna pway too!"

Leo spun around, drawing his katana, prepared to defend himself. He relaxed when he realized he had just stepped on the remote and turned on the TV.

"Alright, come here baby," The woman on the TV picked up a young Lulu and swung her around. They were both laughing.

There was the sound of a little girl crying in the background. The camera turned to show a young Ariel chasing a young boy around the yard with a baseball bat.

"Hey—Ariel, don't hit him with—give me that!" a man's voice said as whoever was holding the camera chased after Ariel.

"Daddy he made Char cry!" Ariel told him as she continued to chase the boy. "He called her a dork and said her only friends are books! Get back here Casey! I'm gonna make you apologize to Char!"

"Casey Jones don't apologize to no one!" the boy shouted back.

There was a few moments of static and then the video came back, but now it's a different scene. The girls were a little older and they were sitting together on the couch. A young Casey and another little boy and girl were standing behind the couch talking to the girls.

"Alright, girls, tell your father your big news."

Ariel giggled and nudged Charlotte, who adjusted her glasses and smiled to the camera. "Hi Daddy, um, Heather and I entered in the talent show at school last week. We did that dance you helped us with a few months ago. And um… well…"

The girl lifted up a big trophy and held it out towards the camera. "We won Mr. Sawyer! Can you believe it!? We actually won!"

"Lulu told Lottie she could do it, but Lottie didn't believe Lulu!" Lulu added with a smile.

"We miss you Daddy." Ariel said. "Derek and Casey are helping out around the house while you're gone, but it's still lonely without you here." Leo realized that she had started crying. "I'm sorry… I told myself I wouldn't cry—"

"Oh here baby, lemme get you a tissue." The camera jerked around and finally settled on the table in front of the girls. The mother handed Ariel a tissue and she wiped her eyes.

"It's alright sweetie, daddy will be home before you know it."

"But what if he's not? He promised to take me to my first day of school and then they call him away! It's not fair!" Ariel sobbed.

The screen turned to static. Leo lifted the remote and turned the TV off.

"The same day we filmed that they found out their dad died."

Leo jumped at Casey's sudden appearance in the archway to the living room. He had his hands in his pockets and a troubled look on his face.

"Ariel was right. It wasn't fair." Casey said leaning against the wall. "Not to mention that their mother had been sick. When she heard the news about her husband… she hasn't been out of the hospital much since then."

"You seemed really close on that tape." Leo commented as he sheathed his katana. "How come you never said anything about them?"

"Because it wasn't any of your business, that's why." Casey snapped. "They've had it really rough and I don't like talkin' about them to people who don't get it."

"Guys! Come here, I think I've found something!" April called from upstairs.

Everyone rushed up the stairs and saw April standing in the hall trying to open a door at the end of the hall.

"All of the doors in this house are unlocked except this one," she told them. "There's gotta be a clue or something inside."

"Step aside April." Raph said cracking his knuckles. April stepped to the side and Raph rammed the door down. "There we go, that wasn't so hard."

"Uh, Raph?" Leo said walking up to him. "You do realize you're gonna have to explain this to the sisters, right?"

Raph opened his mouth to respond, but stopped when he noticed the room was plastered in articles and photographs of strange phenomena all around the world.

"Whoa… this is so bizarre…" April said as she began to read the titles of the articles. "Mutants in New York, Tenth missing person found a week after disappearance, what is all this?"

"Hey guys, look at this," Raph said pointing to an article that was outlined in red marker. "It says, 'The reports of missing persons had all those in upstate New York afraid to leave their homes at night for months before the strange kidnappings suddenly stopped. The last victim, Melinda Wilder, agreed to sit down and talk with us about the incident. 'I have no recollection of what happened to me.' She told us as she rocked her two year old daughter Samantha to sleep. 'All I remember is one night I was taking Samantha for a walk outside when I saw a white van pull in front of us. The next thing I remember after that was waking up in a field in the woods. I am just glad that my daughter was unharmed.'"

"Their grandmother's name is Melinda, this could be related to why the Kraang are after them." Casey thought aloud.

"April, it mentions your dad in here too." Leo said shocked.

"What? My dad?" April rushed over to read the article. "Kirby O'Neil was too distraught after the disappearance of his wife that he refused to comment. His wife is the third victim to be snatched up in the middle of the night with no evidence as to who is the culprit. Hopefully whoever the culprit is will follow his pattern and Mrs. O'Neil will be found in a week's time."

"None of this makes any sense." Casey said as he began to pace. "Why would there be all these articles about missing people turning up a week after their kidnapped in their house? What's going on?"

"Maybe this can explain it." Leo said lifting a video tape off the table in the center of the room. The label on the tape said 'FOR MY GIRLS – GIOVANNI'.

"I think we should bring this back and show it to them. It might have some clues on it." Leo said. He turned to Casey and handed him the tape. "You better give it to them, it might be better for you to watch it with them, since you know them so well and all."

Meanwhile in the sewers, Ariel had woken up and was thinking about what she and her sisters were going to do now. Mikey had been sitting in the living room playing some video game on the TV. Every once in a while he would glance over at Ariel, turning back to his game whenever she caught him.

"What?" Ariel asked finally.

Mikey paused his game. "What?" he echoed.

"You keep staring at me, so—what is it?"

"Oh, um, yeah, well… I was just thinking, you look really pretty, that's all." Mikey said, a blush creeping upon his freckled cheeks.

Ariel felt her own cheeks turn red at his comment. She found herself at a loss of words as well, which was not something that happened often with her. She played with her necklace between her fingers, her eyes purposefully avoiding Mikey.

"You okay?" Mikey asked curious. "Did I say something wrong?"

Ariel shook her head, still unable to find words. He walked over and sat beside her on the couch, causing Ariel to quickly avert her gaze to her hands.

"Okay, now I know something's wrong, why are you not looking at me?"

Ariel looked up at Mikey after hearing the hurt in his voice. She looked into his blue eyes and saw that he was genuinely worried about her. When was the last time she saw anyone look at her with such immense concern for her? It had to have been years. He reached up his hand toward her and Ariel for some reason quickly shut her eyes. She didn't know why she felt scared, but she did.

Mikey's finger wiped her cheek and she opened her eyes. Without realizing it, she had started crying. Ariel blinked away her tears the best she could and wiped the rest away, turning away from Mikey.

"It's okay to be scared, y'know." Mikey told her.

"I'm not scared!" Ariel snapped, holding her arms close to her chest. She looked over at her sisters. "Who said I'm scared? I'm not scared of anything."

Mikey moved in front of her. "You're lying."

Ariel turned away from him. "No I'm not."

"Yes you are." Mikey insisted.

"Why do you want me to say I'm scared? Think I'll be able to rely on you if I am? Forget it greenie, I don't rely on anyone."

Now it was Mikey who was at a loss of words. But the silence was short lived as the others returned.

"Casey? What are you doing here?" Ariel asked jumping up and rushing over to him. "How do you know these… um… whatever they are?"

"I'll explain later Ariel, but right now, you need to see this." Casey hands her the tape.

"'For my girls'… this is from my dad?"

Ariel ran over to her sisters and shook them awake.

"Wha—what's wrong Ariel?" Charlotte asked as she rubbed her eyes.

"Lulu was dreaming about giant talking turtles!" Lulu whined.

"We need to see this, together." Ariel said showing them the tape.

Ariel put it into the TV's VCR and pressed play.

"Gir—SCRHZ—Girls—SCRHZZ—It's me, dad. Listen, I don't know what's going on but I promised your mother I'd tell you when you were old enough. There's not much time to explain, but some alien creatures calling themselves the Kraang are going to be coming for you when they are ready to start their invasion of Earth. I don't know all the details but promise that you'll look after each other and keep each other safe!" there was a commotion off screen and the man looked away from the camera before turning back. "I'm out of time, listen to me girls, whatever happens, this wasn't anyone's fault. Not your mother's, not your step-father's, and most certainly not yours. I love you girls, and Ariel, I'm sorry I can't keep my promise, I really did try. Goodbye,"

Silence filled the lair. Ariel was startled by the sudden sound of her cellphone ringing. She gingerly stands up and steps away from her sisters before answering the phone.

"H-H-Hello? Oh, Dr. Williamson, hi. Yes I am with my sisters. Nothing at the moment, why?" Ariel's hand began to shake. "O-Okay, we'll be there as soon as we can." She hung up the phone and turned back to her sisters.

"Ariel? What's wrong?" Charlotte asked, worried by the expression on her older sister's face.

"Something happen with mommy?" Lulu asked.

Ariel forced a smile on her face. "Dr. Williamson just said that mom needs to see us right now. She has something important to tell us, that's all."

Lulu and Charlotte shared a concerned look before getting up and walking over to their sister.

"I'll go with you." Casey said. "In case the Kraang come back. I'll make sure you get to talk to your mom."

"I'll go too," April volunteered. "It'll be safer this way."

"Alright, fine, let's go."

They quickly made their way to the hospital, Casey and April keeping an eye out for any Kraang that might be nearby. When they reached the hospital, the sisters went into their mother's room and Casey and April waited outside.

"Dr. Williamson?" Ariel asked taking a step forward.

The doctor turned around and gave the girls an apologetic look. Ariel felt her heart stop, tears rolling down her cheeks.

"No…" she ran past him and saw her mother lying motionless in her bed.

All three sisters gathered around the bed, tears streaming down their faces. Lulu leaned over to Charlotte who held her sister comfortingly.

"I'm so sorry, she had a heart attack right after we called you." Dr. Williamson said. "We did everything we could. I'm sorry for your loss."

Casey and April heard the crying from outside in the hall and knew what had happened.

"Those poor girls… Casey, do you think we should—" Casey fell to the floor, hiding his face in his knees. April can hear that he's crying, though she knows he is trying to hide it from her. She sits on the floor next to him and leans her head on his shoulder. Before she knows it, she finds tears rolling down her cheeks as well.


	4. Chapter 4: Love, Sorrow and Rage

_"…and most certainly not yours. I love you girls, and Ariel, I'm sorry I can't keep my promise, I really did try. Goodbye,"_

The tape automatically rewound until it reached the beginning and it started playing again. Ariel's eyes were empty as she sat in the darkness of her bedroom watching the tape over and over. The only light in the room came from the TV.

"Ariel?" Charlotte opened her sister's bedroom door, light spilling onto Ariel's face. "Heather and Casey are downstairs, they came to see you." Ariel didn't seem to hear her sister's voice, her eyes gazing unblinkingly at the TV screen. Charlotte stared worriedly at her sister's tear-stained face. "Ariel, it's been a week already, you've gotta come out of your room at some point." Again, Ariel was unresponsive. "At least come downstairs and eat something!" Still her sister did not answer.

Defeated, Charlotte returned downstairs where Lulu, Heather, Casey and April were waiting. She joined them in the living room, sitting beside her sister on the couch.

"She still won't come out?" Casey asked. Charlotte shook her head.

"Let me handle this," Heather said before she marched up the stairs. She burst into Ariel's room, turned the light on, unplugged the TV and slapped Ariel hard across the face. "Snap out of it girl, this isn't the time for you feel sorry for yourself!" she grabbed Ariel's shoulders and looked right into her lifeless eyes. "Listen, remember when I told you about the time our parent's split up? I was ready to give up hope then, but you told me that I had to stay strong for my younger brother and sister. Well now I'm going to say the same thing to you. Stand up, brush yourself off and stay strong for your sisters!"

Ariel did not move, she simply stared back at Heather, her expression unchanged. Heather grumbled and pushed Ariel down onto her bed.

"I really didn't want it to have to come to this but..." she leaned down and placed her lips against Ariel's.

In an instant, Ariel's eyes were filled with life again.

"Heather! What the hell are you doing?!" Ariel shouted as she shoved her friend off of her. She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. "I thought I told you to never do that again!"

Heather simply wiped her hands and smirked satisfactorily at Ariel. "It's about damn time the little mermaid came up for air. You realize you've been locked in here for the past week watching that tape from your father over and over? We've been worried sick about you girl! Hell, Drake was here earlier till he got called in for work. Lulu is refusing to talk to anyone until you come out of your room and bitch I am just sick of seeing your beautiful face covered in tears!" Heather gently wiped away the tear stains on Ariel's face.

Ariel brushed Heather's hand away as she stood up and walked over to her closet. "You still didn't have to kiss me." She took off her shirt and began digging through her closet for a clean one when Heather came up behind her and spun her around, kissing her again.

This time, Ariel did not push Heather away. When Heather stepped back, Ariel huffed and pulled a top off it's hanger in her closet.

When Ariel finished dressing, Heather stood in front of her and caressed her cheek. "You know that I think you're beautiful, even if the guys don't understand. If you're upset about something, you can't bottle it up like this. You have to tell **someone**. I am not saying you have to tell me, but you need to tell someone. It hurts to think that you can't trust me with your troubles anymore little mermaid." Heather kissed Ariel's cheek softly. "I just want you to be happy, that's all I want."

Ariel touched Heather's hand on her face and leaned her face into it. "I know Heather, I know, but..." she sighed and looked at Heather with her golden eyes full of gratitude. "Thanks for snapping me out of it."

"Anytime, now come on, everyone is waiting downstairs."

"Ariel!" Lulu exclaimed when her sister joined them in the living room. She jumped up and hugged her sister tightly. "Lulu was worried Ariel was broken and couldn't be fixed ever again!" she turned to Heather, "How did you fix Ariel?"

Heather and Ariel looked at each other and smiled. "That, Lulu is my little secret." Heather replied.

Lulu pouted but continued to hug her sister tightly.

Casey walked over to his sister. "Okay, seriously, what **_did_** you do to Ariel?" he whispered.

Heather simply winked at him and ruffled his hair. "Look at you trying to be all grown up."

"Hey! I **_am_** grown up!" Casey grumbled, pushing his sister's hands away. "We were really starting to get worried about you," he said giving Ariel a hug. "Oh, um, this is my friend April,"

"It's nice to finally get to meet you, Casey's told me so much about you." April said politely. "We didn't get a chance to talk before."

Ariel simply smiled back at April, unable to find words now that she was around everyone again. She looked over at Charlotte, who immediately stood up and left the room. Ariel knew why Charlotte was mad, and she didn't blame her. She had been selfish and left Charlotte in charge of making all the funeral arrangements for their mother.

"I'll be right back you guys, I need to talk with Charlotte for a minute." Ariel said as she slipped away after her sister.

Ariel found Charlotte in their parents bedroom, sitting on their bed. She closed the door behind her, not wanting their conversation to be overheard.

"Char... I..." Ariel fought to find the words to say. Could anything she say even matter at this point? She wasn't sure if she could mend the already strained relationship she and her sister had. "I'm sorry,"

"What for? You didn't do anything." Charlotte simply replied, though Ariel could tell she was forcing herself to stay calm. She knew Charlotte was upset.

"Char, I don't know what happened, I just... I didn't expect her to—" she stopped herself short and bit her lip. "I didn't expect it to happen so soon."

"Yeah, well, it did." Charlotte spat angrily. "It doesn't matter, it's fine. We don't need to talk about it."

"I didn't mean to leave everything up to you!"

"I said we don't need to talk about it!"

An aura appeared around Charlotte and the furniture in the room lifted off the ground for a moment before slamming back to the ground. A lamp fell to the floor, shattering.

Ariel was silent after that. She walked over to the bed and sat beside her sister. "I remember mom used to sit us up on the bed like this and tell us stories about when she was little." Ariel said, running her hand along the blanket.

Charlotte did not say a word. She sat there, still and silent. It was a sight Ariel had grown used to seeing but one she never wanted for her little sister.

Suddenly they heard screaming from the other room. When they ran to see what was happening, they froze in horror at the scene before them. There was a large gaping hole in wall, many of the Kraang standing there with blaster guns drawn. Heather and Lulu were cornered by the stairs while Casey and April were standing there as if they had done battle with these robots a thousand times already.

"We gotta split up, it'll be harder for them to get the sisters that way." April suggested as she pulled out her tessen.

"Heather, get Lulu out of here. I'll call when we have the rest of the plan figured out." Casey shouted to his sister.

"Gotcha." Heather lifted Lulu onto her back and back flipped over the Kraang. She ran to her motorcycle and the two sped off down the street.

Before the Kraang could chase after them, April jumped in front of them and knocked a few out. "Casey, take Ariel and go get the turtles! They can help!" she shouted over her shoulder.

"I'm not leaving Charlotte behind!" Ariel yelled angrily.

"Go Ariel, I can take care of myself." Charlotte said, pushing her sister closer to Casey.

"Char..." Ariel hesitated before she and Casey took off down the other side of the street.

"I don't like this, Casey!" Ariel growled bitterly as they climbed down into the sewers. "I don't like leaving my sisters behind!"

"I know Ariel, don't worry, we can figure this out." Casey reassured her as they ran towards the turtles' lair. "You can trust April, and besides, you know Heather. There's no way that Lulu's gonna get into any trouble if she's with her. Well... she'll get into trouble but she'll be safe."

Ariel couldn't help but laugh nervously at Casey's comment on his sister. It was true that Heather somehow managed to always get herself into trouble. As they came upon the lair, they found the turtles heading out.

"Where are you guys headed?" Casey asked as they stopped to catch their breath.

"Donnie called April and she told us about the Kraang attacking their home." Raph said, tilting his head in Ariel's direction. "She said she needed help so that's where we're going now."

"I'll go with you—wait, I can't leave Ariel alone, what if they find her?" Casey looked over at Ariel with a wave of uncertainty. He wanted to go back and help April to make sure she was safe, but he knew he couldn't just abandon his best friend at a time like this either.

"I can take care of myself, Case." Ariel rolled her eyes. "Boys never believe a girl can take care of herself."

"It's not that I don't think you can, I'd just feel a whole lot better if I know you're not by yourself." Casey insisted.

"I'll stay with her." Mikey volunteered, much to everyone's surprise.

"Uh, not to put this the wrong way bro, but you're not exactly the best candidate for protecting someone…" Raph said gently.

"I am too! I'm just as good as any of you!" Mikey protested.

"We don't have time to argue about this—April's fighting the Kraang alone!" Donnie said.

"Okay, Mikey stays here with Ariel while we go help out April and make sure those Kraang lose their trail." Leo said before they all ran down the tunnel.

"What, I don't get a say in any of this?" Ariel shouted after them. "You can't tell me what to do you know!"

It was no use, they were already long gone.

Ariel cursed under her breath as she and Mikey went back into the lair to sit and wait. One thing Ariel never liked was waiting. She had always been impatient and quick to start a fight as well. As they sat on the couch, Ariel crossed her arms and glared angrily at the ground. An awkward silence swirled around them.

Unsure of what to say, Mikey thought of ways to try and cheer Ariel up but he somehow knew that nothing he could do would ever cheer her up. But that didn't stop him from trying. He decided to just try and talk with her.

"So, you have any friends?" he asked suddenly.

Ariel glanced over at him, a bitter look on her face. "Why do you care?"

"Just curious, that's all." Mikey said.

Ariel clicked her tongue and looked away from him. "It's none of your business, just leave me alone."

"Hey, I'm just trying to be nice over here." Mikey said irritated, "I thought this was a good time to just get to know each other, since y'know, we're both fighting the Kraang now."

" ** _We_** are **_not_** fighting those things!" Ariel shouted, jumping to her feet. "Thanks to those things we—" she stopped suddenly and sat back down on the couch, looking away from Mikey.

"We heard about your mom," Mikey said sympathetically. "It must be really hard for you guys. I can't imagine what it's like to lose a mom..."

Ariel glanced at Mikey and was shocked to see him looking really upset. It seemed like he was sad, and that's when Ariel realized something. Even though they hardly knew the turtles, what they did know is that Splinter raised them as his sons, so they never had a mother. Splinter was the only parent they ever knew. But why did not having a mother seem to be a sensitive subject for Mikey?

"I have two best friends besides Casey." Ariel said quietly. "Drake, a wiseass who's always looked out for me since I was a kid and Heather, Casey's older sister. Heh, Heather's probably the closest friend I've got. She's a total badass and doesn't follow anybody's rules but her own. She's always been there for me, even when I didn't want anyone around… she was there."

"She sounds fun, it's good to have friends like that." Mikey said.

"Yeah…"

The awkward silence returned.

"Do you… miss your mom?"

That question stung Ariel's heart, tears formed in her eyes. She hugged her knees close to her chest.

"Of course I miss her, she was my mom."

"Oh, duh, stupid question."

Again, silence fell upon them.

"Hey… Mikey?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you… have you ever wanted a mom?" He didn't answer. "I guess that's a dumb question, you probably don't even know what a mom—"

"When I was little, I used to dream we had a mom."

Mikey's voice was more serious than usual, causing Ariel to listen intently. She kept her back to him, but she lifted her head as she listened.

"One day, I think we were like, five or something, we were playing kick the can in the sewers when I heard someone crying. I looked through a storm drain and saw a little girl crying. I don't know what happened but the girl was crying for her mom and suddenly this woman appeared. When she picked the girl up and talked to her, the girl stopped crying. I guess I kinda always wanted to know what that felt like, to have a mother hug you and make things all better."

Ariel turned to look at Mikey and saw he was crying. She had even started to cry herself. Mikey had always seemed like the goofball type to her, but now… maybe there are things that even Mikey thinks seriously about.

Ariel wiped her tears away on her sleeve. She wanted to change the subject, she hated crying and for some reason she felt herself wanting to make Mikey smile again. "One time Drake and I were drinking beer that he had stolen that afternoon, we were in the park we always hang out at. Out of nowhere this Purple Dragon punk came over and started picking a fight with us. Wanted our money, our beer, stuff like that."

"What did you guys do?" Mikey asked, entranced by the story. His eyes no longer sad, Ariel's plan was working.

"I kicked his sorry ass, that's what!" she said excitedly. Talking about her fighting seemed to have caused everything going on to fade away for Ariel. "I broke his arm in three places and he needed sixteen stitches altogether afterwards. But after I kicked his ass, five other Purple Dragons came running to his defense. That's when Heather showed up. She spun in on her purple motorcycle and stopped in front of me, the Purple Dragon guys stopping dead in their tracks. 'You guys better run along before I report this to the boss,' she told them and they ran off with their tails between their legs."

"I told you she's a badass." Ariel sighed as she remembered that day. "It's nice to have the Purple Dragoness as a best friend."

"The what?!" Mikey exclaimed in shock.

Ariel laughed. "Yeah, Char had the same reaction. Heather's the only female in the Purple Dragons, her boyfriend is the second in command. Naturally she's even kicked his ass more than once so nobody ever messes with her."

"But aren't the Purple Dragons bad guys?" Mikey asked.

"They are, but Heather is different from the others. She keeps the idiots and new recruits on a tight leash, makes sure they know their place." she noticed Mikey staring at her intensely, his face only inches away from hers. Her cheeks turned red and she quickly backed away, turning her back on Mikey.

"Why do you do that?" he asked.

"I don't know what you're talking about, I just don't feel like talking anymore." Ariel snapped.

"You won't let me get close to you." Mikey went to sit in front of her. She turned around. "See? You're doing it again."

Ariel spun around and slapped Mikey hard across the face. "What is your problem? You think this is **_easy_** for me?!" she yelled at him. "It's not easy to get used to a huge talking mutant turtle that wants to be my friend!"

"It's no weirder than three girls having strange powers and a connection to an alien race!" Mikey shouted back. It was the first time he'd felt truly angry at Ariel since they met. Even her sudden attack on Donnie before didn't make him feel this way. "You're just as strange as us! We're the **_same_**!"

"Are you kidding me?! We're nowhere **_near_** the same! For one thing we don't live in the sewers to make sure we aren't discovered by humans!"

"Well at least we're honest about who we are! We haven't been keeping secrets from you like you have from us!"

Ariel was fuming now, her face bright red. An aura started to form around her hands when Splinter suddenly put his hand on her shoulder.

"Calm down, there is no need to start a fight." Splinter said calmly to Ariel. The tone in his voice washed over Ariel and the aura around her hands disappeared.

Ariel took a deep breath before walking into Donnie's lab, away from Mikey and Splinter.

Meanwhile at the girls' home, the fight seemed endless. More and more Kraang kept coming as if they were homing in on the location. Leo picked up on this and began to formulate a plan.

"We gotta split up." he shouted to everyone. "It's the only way to get them away from the house. Once we split up we can take them out and head back to the lair."

"That's a stupid plan!" Charlotte said as she held the plank of wood she'd been using as a weapon close to her chest. "If we split up they can take us out one by one!"

"I think Leo's right," Donnie added. "It seems like the Kraang have homed in on this location and that's why they keep coming. If we get away from here it's more likely more won't follow us because they won't know where we are."

"If that's true," Charlotte hit a Kraang with the plank of wood, knocking it back a few feet. "then that means that we won't be able to come back home. We can't do that!"

"We don't have a choice Charlotte," Casey said jumping in front of April and whacking two Kraang with his hockey stick. "If we don't go now we might not get out of here and meet up with the others."

Charlotte bit her lower lip in defeat. She knew that Casey was right.

"Casey, you go with April that way, Donnie and I will go to the roofs, Raph you take Charlotte and go that way." Leo instructed as he destroyed a Kraang.

"Wait a second! I'm not going with him!" Charlotte shouted in protest as Raph moved over toward her. "Why can't I go with Casey?"

"There's no time to argue Char!" Casey told her.

"Everyone go!" Donnie shouted.

"But—"

Before Charlotte could protest further, Raph had grabbed her arm and was running down the street, dragging her behind him. Charlotte did her best to keep up with the turtle's fast pace, occasionally stumbling, causing Raph to yank her back to her feet.

"Let go of me!" Charlotte yelled. "I can run on my own!"

Raph did not seem to hear her, he was too focused on losing the Kraang that had followed them. Charlotte tripped again, this time her knee scrapping against the road. Raph once again roughly pulled her up and continued running, not stopping to see if she was okay or not.

Charlotte became desperate. She shut her eyes and focused on the part of her arm that Raph was holding onto. An aura appeared on the area and small flashes of lightning seemed to shoot out of her arm, shocking Raph.

"OW!" he shouted in pain, letting go of her arm as he took a leap away from her. "What the hell was that?!" he asked her angrily, holding his now injured hand.

Charlotte was breathing heavily. Not only was she out of breath from running but she was now also trying to calm herself down so she didn't lose control.

"Hey!" Raph yelled taking a step toward her. "Answer me!"

"Shut up!" Charlotte screamed, the aura moving down her arm toward her hands. She quickly grabbed her arm and took deep breaths. Through a forced calm voice she said, "Let's just get back to the sewers so I can be with my sisters."

Though he was still angry for the sudden electric shock and wanted an explanation, Raph lifted a manhole cover and lead Charlotte into the sewers. While they walked, Raph noticed that Charlotte was still clutching her arm tightly, the aura still there, but growing faint.

As they walked in silence, Raph couldn't help but feel irritated with Charlotte. From the first time they met, Raphael had gotten a strange feeling about Charlotte that he couldn't quite explain. Now he knew exactly what it was. He knew what she was doing to herself. But why did it bothered him so much?

Trying to push these thoughts out of his mind Raph tried to strike up a conversation with Charlotte.

"So, uh, how long have you and your sisters had powers?" he asked casually.

Charlotte did not respond right away. It took her a few moments before she spoke. "I don't really feel like talking,"

This angered Raph. He was just trying to be nice and she was treating him like this? Enough was enough. Raphael knew he had to put a stop to this. He stopped in his tracks.

"What are you doing?" Charlotte asked a little startled by his sudden stop. "We haven't gotten to Ariel yet!"

Raph didn't answer.

Charlotte felt herself starting to lose control.

"Answer me!" she shouted.

Again Raph was quiet.

Her breathing quickened. Her heart racing.

"Why did you stop! What are you doing?!" Charlotte found herself screaming now, something she almost never did.

Raph turned around to face Charlotte but again he did not say a word.

Suddenly something went off inside Charlotte's mind. Raphael was thrown backwards through a solid brick wall. An aura surrounded Charlotte's entire body. As Raph sat up he saw that he had been right. Though the expression on her face was one of intense anger, the tears streaming down her cheeks and the way her eyes swirled with emotion gave away what she was really feeling.

"That all you got?" Raph taunted as he got to his feet.

Charlotte glared at him and used her power to lift him up and slam him hard into the ground.

"It's not fair!" she shouted, the aura around her now focusing on just her hands. "It's not fair!"

Raph looked up and saw her expression had changed to one of pain and sadness. "What's not fair? That you can't beat me?"

Raph lunged at her, knocking her to the ground. Charlotte blasted him off and he landed on his feet. Charlotte lifted some of the bricks from the wall she threw Raph through before and, using her power, shot them at him.

"I have to be the strong one! If I lose control then we'll lose everything!" she cried as the bricks knocked him to the ground.

Raph knew that he had broken through to her. Hopefully this would help him understand her better.

"Why are you doing this?" Charlotte asked softly as Raphael got to his feet once again.

"You are keeping everything locked up inside," he stated matter-of-factly. "I know from experience if you don't let those emotions out, it'll destroy you."

"What do you know!" Charlotte spat angrily, looking away from him. "You don't know anything about me."

"No? How did I know that by me suddenly stopping that you'd get pissed off?"

Charlotte didn't move.

"Listen, I have a problem with my anger, so I know what you're going through, believe me." Raphael continued. "If you need to take your anger out on someone, take it out on me."

Charlotte looked at Raph with utter surprise. Why was this turtle being so kind to her? What could he possibly gain from any of this? Confused and overwhelmed by her emotions, Charlotte found herself falling to her knees and crying.


	5. Chapter 5: Some Assistance Required

"We should be safe here until we hear from Casey." Heather said to Lulu as she pulled her motorcycle into the building.

They were in an abandoned warehouse that the Purple Dragons used as a sort of home base. There was a pile of dusty mattresses in one corner, along with some tattered blankets. The wall next to the door had a make-shift kitchen, complete with a large fridge and freezer. Curtains were strung up throughout the room to divide the large space and provide some privacy. Even though the building was abandoned, the Dragons had stolen a generator so they had electricity.

"This place is so cool!" Lulu said in awe as Heather bolted the doors. "Is this where you live when you're not at home with your mom?"

"Yup, this is my home away from home." Heather smiled as she tousled Lulu's hair. "Make yourself at home, kiddo, we might be here for a few hours. I'd offer you something to drink but we only have beer."

"Lulu could drink beer, if Lulu wanted." Lulu said as Heather pulled a beer out of the fridge for herself.

"No way, baby girl, I'm not gonna have Ariel and Charlotte chew me out for getting you drunk." Heather shook her head. She took a swig of her beer before she noticed Lulu's hands were shaking. "You okay, baby girl?"

"Lulu's fine… Lulu's just tired, that's all." Lulu laid down on one of the mattresses and pulled a blanket over her.

"Well, you go ahead and get some sleep, I'll let you know when I hear from Casey about where to meet up." Heather said as she sat down and stroked Lulu's hair until she had fallen asleep.

When she was sure Lulu was asleep, Heather checked her messages on her cell.

 **Heather: Where are you? What the hell is going on?**

Still no response from Ariel. Heather got up and walked over to a broken window. She sighed as she lit a cigarette and looked up at the late afternoon sky. The clouds did little to comfort or ease her worries. The image of Ariel's lonely eyes and sad expression haunted her vision. She ran her finger across her lips, recalling the sweet flavor of Ariel's soft lips.

"Vanilla…" she said softly. "She still tastes like vanilla… I wonder that's from the balm I gave her…"

She closed her eyes and recalled the memory of the first time she kissed Ariel. It was just a game, seemed innocent enough, but neither of them expected to feel the way they did afterwards.

 _"Alright I got the King!" Casey exclaimed as he held out his card._

 _"Well make it good Casey, I don't want to have to do something lame." Heather said before taking a swig of vodka._

 _"Hey, my dares aren't that bad! Are they Drake?" Casey looked to Drake for support, but Drake simply shrugged._

 _"You could get a bit more creative with the dares dude," he said._

 _"Fine, I dare number one and three to make out!" Casey said._

 _Drake, Heather and Ariel flipped over their cards. Ariel had the one of hearts and Heather had the three of hearts. Both girls looked at each other and Ariel felt her cheeks grow hot._

 _"Wow, I did not see that coming." Drake laughed. He clapped Casey on the back. "Now_ ** _that's_ **_the kind of dare we're talking about squirt! Way to go!"_

 _Heather moved closer to Ariel. She held out her lip balm, "Here, put this on, make it more interesting." Ariel took it and traced the balm over her lips. Heather held out her vodka bottle. "You wanna take a quick sip? Make it a bit easier?"_

 _Ariel leaned over and placed her lips on Heather's. Heather could taste the sweet vanilla of the lip balm. Ariel's lips were so soft. Heather found herself slipping her tongue into Ariel's mouth. To her surprise, Ariel didn't seem to mind and their tongues played around before they finally pulled apart._

 _Casey's face had turned bright red, his hands in between his legs, no doubt to cover the bulge that had appeared. Drake simply looked disappointed, as if the kiss made him sad more than excited._

 _"You two really got into that," Drake said, sounding a little irritated. "You could've just backed out, you know."_

 _"Even if we backed out, we'd have had to kiss anyway." Heather reminded him._

 _"Not true, you could've taken the other penalty," Casey said._

 _"Would you really want to see my underwear squirt?" Heather stood up and began to take off her shorts._

 _"NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO!" Casey shouted, shielding his eyes and backing away._

 _Heather sat back down and her eyes drifted back to Ariel, her cheeks still a soft pink color. Heather felt her heart beating faster and she found herself wanting to kiss Ariel again. Was it simply the vodka making her feel this way?_

Heather opened her eyes and sighed. She pulled her cell phone back out and called the second person on her speed dial.

 _"Well this certainly is rare, you hardly_ ** _ever_ **_call me."_

"Hey, D…"

 _"What's wrong?"_

"It's Ariel. I was just over there and we were talking when something really crazy happened."

 _"Like what? Wait, you got her to come out of her room? What did you… you kissed her, didn't you?"_

Heather felt her cheeks grow hot as a blush crept across her face.

 _"I knew it. I should've seen that coming."_

"S-S-Shut up!" Heather exclaimed quietly, trying to not wake Lulu. "Listen, I think someone is after her and her sisters. When I was there, this group of weird robot guys started attacking—they blew a hole in the wall! Casey said we should split up and I took Lulu and got out of there. I don't know what happened after we left but I'm worried. I haven't been able to reach Ariel or Casey. These guys had some pretty intense guns on them too. I've never seen guns like them before.

There was silence.

"Drake! Say something!"

 _"I'll go by the house and see what's going on. Just stay calm and keep an eye out in case someone followed you. I'll come by the warehouse after and we can figure this out together, okay? You guys still at the warehouse near the docks?"_

"Yeah, but be careful Drake, I don't know if those robot guys are still there."

 _"Don't worry about me, I've got my guns on me, I'll be fine."_

"I don't know if that's gonna be enough to—"

 _"I'll be_ ** _fine_ **_, Dragoness,"_

"… okay, see you soon."

A few hours later, Drake showed up at the warehouse with some snacks for Lulu and Heather.

"You are a lifesaver Drake!" Heather said relieved as she draped herself over his shoulders, her face flush. "We were starting to run low on beer,"

"Sorry Heather, I didn't bring you any beer." He told her as he pulled out a bottle of water from his bag and handed it to her. "Here, you need to stay hydrated." he looked over at Lulu, who was still fast asleep. "How's she holding up?"

Heather's face fell. "I don't really know… she was shaking like a leaf when we got here and said she needed some rest. She hasn't woken up since." she looked down at the bottle of water in her hands and groaned, tossing it to the side. She went over to the fridge and pulled out a fresh beer. "You want one too? There's one left."

"Yeah, I'll take it." Drake said taking the beer from her. "You really should drink something else once in awhile."

"I drink Vodka and Scotch too." Heather replied.

"Something **_without_** alcohol in it, Heather"

"Wuaaah!? But where's the fun in that?" she said playfully with a smirk. The two laughed before Heather's phone started to ring. "Casey? Thank GOD you're okay!" she gave a sigh of relief. "I was worried leaving your scrawny ass behind, but I'm glad those robot guys didn't hurt you. Hm? Where are we? Where else—at my place. No not that stupid hideout those idiots use! I'm at the warehouse where Hun and I live. Where do you want to meet up? Ha, I should've known. Okay, okay, sorry, we'll meet you there."

"I take it Casey's okay?" Drake asked as he took a big sip of his beer.

"Yeah, and he said that Ariel and Charlotte are in a safe place for now. He wants me to bring Lulu to the ice rink. Lulu, baby, time to wake up." Heather began to chug down her beer. "You ready to go meet up with Casey and your sisters?" There was no answer from Lulu. "Lulu?"

Drake and Heather walked over to Lulu. Her face was red and she was breathing heavily, her forehead was wet with sweat.

"Lulu!" Heather tossed her beer bottle aside and knelt down beside Lulu. "Lulu, what's wrong, come on baby, wake up!"

Drake placed his hand on her forehead. "She's burning up,"

"Dammit! Ariel's gonna kill me!"

"Let's hurry and meet with Casey, she's gonna need her sisters," Drake lifted Lulu into his arms.

"Right, Charlotte will know what to do," Heather opened the warehouse door and pulled her motorcycle outside. "Hop on, we're not too far from the rink."

They made their way through the streets of New York to the ice rink. Drake held on tightly to Lulu, keeping an eye on her condition as Heather navigated through traffic. Lulu's breathing was shallow and weak, her face contorted with pain and red with fever, her forehead covered in sweat.

"Lulu, can you hear me? It's Drake," Drake said to her, trying to get her to wake up. "Say something Lulu, please."

Lulu's eyes did not open but she began to groan in pain. "…tle…" Drake tightened his grip on her as she began to struggle. "Mr… tle…" her body went limp as she lost consciousness.

When at last they reached the ice rink, Heather and Drake ran inside, Lulu in Drake's arms. Casey was waiting for them by the ice.

"Casey!" Heather ran over to her brother and wrapped her arms around him, a smile on her face. "I'm so glad you're okay!" she held him at arm's length and stared right into his eyes. "Okay squirt, explain. NOW."

"I don't know **_what_** is going on, I swear," Casey insisted pushing away his sister's arms. "All I know is that Ariel, Charlotte and Lulu are in danger and I have some friends who can help them."

Heather raised an eyebrow. "You… have **_friends_ **?" he frowned. "Look, I'm sorry, but you have to admit, it's a little hard to picture you having friends that I don't know about is all."

"Well I **_do_** and they can help keep the Sawyer's safe." Casey said as Drake placed Lulu on his back. "I'm gonna take Lulu to where Ariel and the others are, I can take it from here. I'll text you as soon as everything is figured out."

"Casey wait!" Heather grabbed his arm. "You **_really_** aren't going to tell us anything? We have a right to know what's going on with our friends!"

"Heather I can't tell you! It's not like I don't want to, I can't because I promised I wouldn't. Besides, Ariel doesn't want to get you two involved. She said it's too dangerous." Heather let go of Casey's arm and he gave her an apologetic look. "I'm sorry sis,"

Drake put his hand on her shoulder as Casey left the rink with Lulu on his back. As soon as the door closed behind him, he turned to Heather. "Let's go,"

"Go? What, you mean follow him?" Heather asked confused as Drake began to leave. She followed after him. "You heard what he said! Ariel doesn't want us to get involved!"

"When has that ever stopped us before?" Drake turned to look at her. "When has that ever stopped **_you_ **?" Heather felt her face grow red. "Look, you know Ariel, she tries to do things on her own and always ends up in over her head. If we listen to her now, who knows what might happen."

"You're right, besides, if she's in as much trouble as it sounds like she is, she's gonna need our help."

"That's an understatement,"

They followed after Casey, making sure that he didn't spot them. When he went into the sewers, Heather and Drake became increasingly curious as to who these friends of his could possibly be. It wasn't until they finally caught up to Casey that they got their answer.

"TURTLES?!" Heather shouted in shock. "YOUR FRIENDS ARE **FUCKING TURTLES**?!"

"Sis!" Casey jumped in surprise at his sister's voice. "You two **_followed_** me?!"

"It's a good thing we did!" Heather shouted angrily. "You're saying that these… **_turtles_ ** are the friends that are supposed to keep Ariel and her sisters **_safe_ **?!"

"Heather, calm down—" Drake attempted to calm Heather but was quickly interrupted.

"Shut up Drake!" she spat at him. "Casey, you better explain what the **_FUCK_** is going on RIGHT NOW!"

Ariel and Charlotte came running over and when she saw Heather and Drake, Ariel felt her heart sink. She ran over to Heather. "Heather! You're not supposed to be here!"

"The fuck I'm **not**!" Heather yelled. "These things can't protect you the way I can!"

"Heather, there's more to this than you think, it's very complicated"

"I don't care! Someone better explain this to me right—" Heather was cut off when Ariel put her hand over her mouth.

"Look, Heather, I'll explain everything to you and Drake, okay? Just please calm down." Ariel said gently.

Heather agreed but before Ariel could explain anything, she and Charlotte needed to take care of Lulu. Charlotte had taken Lulu back into the dojo and laid her down on a blanket where she could rest. Ariel sat beside Charlotte next to Lulu and the two held hands as they looked on at their younger sister.

"Do you think it's the same illness mother had?" Charlotte asked finally.

"No, but I can't be sure, I don't remember mother's symptoms when it first happened." Ariel said, her fingers wrapped tightly around her amulet. "Maybe it's just the stress from what happened earlier, I mean, Lulu's always been weaker than us when it comes to stress."

Charlotte bit her lip, her hand grasping Ariel's so hard, her knuckles had turned white. "I can't handle losing anyone else," she said so softly Ariel could barely hear her. Ariel suddenly grabbed Lulu's hands and lifted them to the sides of her forehead. "Ariel, what are you…"

"Lulu, I know you're not feeling well, but you've got to try and heal yourself." Ariel said to Lulu. Her voice was shaky, despite her best efforts to sound confident and strong. "I know you can do it baby,"

Lulu's face twisted in pain and her eyes opened a little. "Lulu… can't…" she groaned, her voice weak. "Lulu can't… do it…"

"Yes you can!" Ariel said, tears forming at the corners of her eyes. "You can do it baby, I know you can."

Charlotte put her hands over Ariel's. "We're here for you Lulu, we believe in you,"

Ariel looked over at Charlotte and the two shared a smile. Lulu closed her eyes and her fingertips began to glow. Lulu cried out in pain, the strength it took to use her power was putting more stress on her body. Ariel and Charlotte squeeze her hands, they knew it was painful for her but she had to do it. Neither Ariel or Charlotte had the ability to heal, only Lulu possessed that special power. Finally Lulu's breathing slowed back to normal, her pain subsiding, and her fingers stopped glowing. She'd done it. She healed herself.

Charlotte and Ariel both let out a sigh of relief they hadn't known they were holding in. Lulu looked up at them and gave them a small smile. "Lulu did it…" she breathed, her voice strained and quiet, tears fell from her eyes. "Lulu really did it…"

"You did good baby, you did real good," Ariel whispered sweetly, leaning over to kiss her forehead.

Charlotte caressed Lulu's cheek. "We're so proud of you, Lulu."

"Would… mama be proud… of Lulu?" she asked.

Ariel and Charlotte both began to cry. They smiled, both holding onto Lulu's hand, and nodded.

"Yeah, mom would be so proud of you Lulu," Charlotte said.

Ariel and Charlotte laid down on either side of Lulu, their arms laying over her. They laid there like that until they drifted off to sleep.

Standing at the entrance to the dojo, Heather, Drake and Casey were watching the sisters until they fell asleep. Drake put his arm around Heather's shoulders. "It looks like she **_doesn't_ ** need our help after all, huh?"

Heather wiped away a few tears and shook her head. "I don't care if she needs my help or not, I'm not abandoning her." she went out to the other room and walked up to the turtles. "Listen here, turtles, I don't know how much you can protect the Sawyer's and I don't feel comfortable trusting them to you," she took a deep breath. "I need you to know that if anything happens to them, I will skin you alive and have myself a big bowl of turtle soup!"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, you honestly think you can protect them better than we can?" Raph asked walking up to her.

"I **_know_** I could!" Heather replied.

"Raph, calm down," Donnie said.

" **_She's_** the one making threats and you want **_me_** to calm down?!" Raph exclaimed.

"She's probably just exaggerating too, you know, 'if anything happens I'll kill you' but she knows nothing's gonna happen. It's just added for dramatic effect, bro." Mikey pointed out.

"Oh boy…" Drake and Casey sighed in unison.

There was a flash of light and Heather was holding a dagger against Mikey's throat. It had happened so fast that the others were too surprised to pull out their own weapons. "I don't say things I don't mean and I sure as hell don't exaggerate when it comes to the safety of the people I care about," Her face was inches away from Mikey's, her brown eyes staring intensely into his. "Still think I was just saying it for dramatic effect?" He shook his head. Heather withdrew her dagger and returned it to its sheath on her garter.

"So that's where you keep the knife I gave you." Drake laughed as she walked back to him. "I always wondered where you carried it."

"You're a total badass, sis." Casey added.

"Yeah, well, can't ever be too careful now, can I?" she said messing up Casey's hair. She turned back to the turtles. "I take it you understand I'm serious now? I'm going to be protecting the Sawyer's too, whether you like it or not. Since I can't ignore my duties above ground, I'll trust them to your protection when I'm not around."

"Don't worry, we won't let anything happen to them." Leo said.

"Good," Heather stretched her arms up. "Ahhh, now that that's settled, I feel like having a drink." she reached into her bra and pulled out a flask. "You boys want any?" The turtles were staring at her, mouths open, all of them blushing, too stunned to say anything. "No? Oh well, more for me."

"She carries a knife on her thigh…" Donnie said, his face still red.

"And a flask between her boobs…" Mikey added.

"She's so tough for a girl…" Raph said.

"And she's faster than any of us…" Leo said. "This girl…"

They all looked at each other and then back at her.

"JUST WHO IS SHE?!" they exclaimed in unison.


End file.
